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The title track from Ward's remarkable Post-War, this weary, trancelike spell of a song anticipates a moment of reckoning. It doesn't bring solutions or add to the rhetoric of grief — instead, the sleepy tenderness of Ward's voice, framed by pedal-steel guitar, offers an aura of consolation.

Whether performing country-blues or roots-rock, Greene has the voice, talent and confidence of a performer beyond his years. Hear folk-rock songs from his album Giving Up the Ghost when he joins David Dye on WXPN's World Cafe.

Fusing unique instrumentation with a soulful and sometimes playful voice, Sollee defies convention. His Kentucky roots shine through on his debut album, Learning to Bend, and in its photography, design, videos and music. Sollee plays music from his first CD on WXPN.

This live version of "Lowdown," a gem from My Morning Jacket's At Dawn, serves as a great way to bring the uninitiated into the band's chiming majesty. At times, the screaming-arrow lead guitars thoroughly overshadow Jim James' voice. Somehow, though, the unassuming and beautiful melody prevails.

NPR's Robert Siegel spends a year with Maria Jooste as she tries to launch an opera career. It's a year of acting classes, singing lessons, understudy appearances and an unexpected stage debut. It's also a year of setbacks, and the realization that a stellar voice may not guarantee stardom.

Ejigayehu "Gigi" Shibabaw has a truly international sound. By mixing jazz, electronica and even dub music elements with traditional Ethiopian styles, Gigi creates upbeat, hopeful music. Her range of styles and beautiful voice bring her very international sound to life.

The Lodger's "Kicking Sand" works with well-worn ingredients (memorable guitar hooks, a thumping bass line) without adhering to a single sound or era: Siddall's sweet voice even calls to mind Peter Noone from Herman's Hermits. The result begs to be played to excess.

One of the leading voices in '60s and '70s folk, Sainte-Marie wrote songs like "Universal Soldier," which she performs in this session from WFUV. At Studio-A, the singer was down to earth, flashed her 100-watt smile and laughed easily.

Thomas Dybdahl's voice has the emotional resonance of Jeff Buckley's and the vulnerability of Chet Baker's. His delicate but lush music recalls that of Tim Buckley, Nick Drake and other forward-thinking folk-rock songwriters who surrounded their basic guitar chords with layered arrangements.

Singer Kele Okereke watches as society begins viewing him with suspicion in "Where Is Home?" Any instrument that's not a drum kit or a voice is almost beside the point: During the verses, guitars and keyboards hang around for atmosphere when they can be bothered to show up at all.

Often recalling the rustic delicacy of Iron and Wine — if it were soaked in strings and robbed of some of its stark clarity — Horse Feathers' music radiates homey intimacy, as Peter Broderick fleshes out Justin Ringle's voice and guitar with all manner of warmly unamplified instrumentation.

With a soulful, bluesy voice that draws frequent comparisons to Bonnie Raitt and Janis Joplin, Grace Potter is ready for the big time. Authentic and original, her band's rootsy sound has won fans not just in its native Vermont, but also in cities all over the country.

Over a relentless, mathematical riff, Damone singer Noelle sings in a voice that's all the more effective for seeming devoid of emotion, while the rest of the band slashes away with a leanness that hews closely to the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal that greeted the dawn of the '80s.

The songs on Revolution come in an impressive variety of arrangements and voices, from quiet, acoustic confessions to rock 'n' roll hollering. They're all convincing, and they make up not just Lambert's best record, but also critic Will Hermes' standing pick for country record of the year.

Vocalist Howard Tate found success in the '60s and '70s, thanks to a voice Elvis Costello called "the missing link between Jackie Wilson and Al Green." After overcoming addiction and homelessness, Tate is back to spread a message of hope and second chances.

Mildred Bailey found fame after signing on with Paul Whiteman's national dance orchestra in 1929. Dynamic and plucky, she married xylophonist Red Norvo, and the couple became known as "Mr. and Mrs. Swing." On That Rockin' Chair Lady, her sweet and flexible voice sparkles.

Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan puts forth his prescription for America's educational system in I Got Schooled. Reviewer John Wilwol says it's a "breezily written, research driven" book that debunks common myths about education in Shyamalan's distinctive — if flawed — voice.

Authorities in Brazil, worried that the former far right president is a flight risk, are imposing new restrictions on his movements. The tough surveillance moves come as President Trump continues to voice strong support for the ex-leader who is facing charges of plotting a coup to stay in power.

Humorist and late-night radio voice Jean Shepherd spent time in the U.S. Army during World War II. He never made it overseas, but the stories he mined from that experience have now been collected in a new volume, Shep's Army.

The Ritchies were one of the great folk song families of the Appalachians. They favored ballads and Jean Ritchie became a master, preferring to sing unaccompanied in a striking, crystalline voice. Alan Lomax recorded her, and she was known as "The Mother of Folk." Ritchie died Monday at 92.